Word Origin & History

accessory also accessary (n.), early 15c. as a legal term in the criminal sense of "one aiding in a crime;" adj. meaning "aiding in crime" is from c.1600; both from L.L. accessorius, from accessor, agent noun from accedere (see access). Attested from 1896 as "woman's smaller articles of dress," hence accessorize (1939).

Example Sentences for accessory

It censured Mrs. McKee severely for having been, so to speak, and accessory after the fact.

It is always more or less a question of "an accessory business."

The pages of history record its undoing and its accessory to crime.

Don't you think your friend might be held an accessory after the fact to the death of the German?

If Reid should fall, Mackenzie felt he would be an accessory to the crime.

There is such a thing as being an accessory to crime by concealment.

Accessory carinae: in Orthoptera the lateral carinae of the face.

The warping-bars are entirely detached from the loom, are an accessory, not a part of it.

Teddy knows all about us—accessory before, during and after the fact.

Stated in technical terms, the order is from fundamental to accessory.